Evangelist Mario Murillo has taken a great deal of heat for a recent blog that he wrote, titled “Mario, Where Have You Been?” In the article, he details why he stepped away from Flashpoint Live, a platform he shared with Lance Wallnau and other evangelists geared toward turning America’s heart back to God.
The first reason was that it was taking him away from his main ministry objective—the saving of lost souls. And, he wrote, “The second reason I stepped away is because I do not want to be on at the same time as a certain other guest. It has to do with his association with two false preachers. I went to him—as Jesus taught, privately. I implored this person to deal with these counterfeit voices. He did not agree with my counsel. One of these false ministers is called a prophet and another that is called a seer. Why am I so adamant about these false prophets? Once again, you will see it has everything to do with preaching the gospel.”
The blog article has caused a major firestorm in the body of Christ on social media, as Murillo called out evangelists Kat Kerr and Robin D. Bullock as “false prophets.” Murillo followed up with another article saying that he would not back down from his original words and would stand by what he said.
In his first blog, Murillo said, “These false preachers say things that are absolutely insane and unscriptural. And therein lies the issue—biblical illiteracy—Murillo told Charisma News’ John Matarazzo in an exclusive interview Monday.
“It is totally the problem,” Murillo says. “And you know, what’s interesting is—and I’ve got to say this real fast—it began in the seeker sensitive model. And that model, for those that don’t, aren’t familiar with church marketing ideologies, is to leave out the offensive aspects of the Bible in order to get a wider hearing and to get people in. The problem is, they’re really not brought in. Their bodies are there but their conversion isn’t.
“So, what we have here is pastors who began to leave the Bible out. And we have individuals who today say things like we need to uncouple Christianity from the Old Testament. Well … Paul said to Timothy, you’ve learned the Scriptures since you were a child, and they are able to correct you and give you life. Well, since the New Testament hadn’t been written yet, what was he referring to? The Old Testament. So, biblical illiteracy is a major issue in the church. But it came from all directions.
“From one section of the church was the marketing scheme; we need a mega church and we need to leave out the offensive part. But on the other side, in the charismatic movement, came people that had out-of-Bible experiences, and they began to feel and get a hearing for the exotic nature of things they said were happening to them. There was no way to corroborate that. There was no way to say, ‘well, that didn’t happen,’ except from the Bible. And since the Bible was not being taught, it opened the door for these prophets that are false to rise up and fill what was a condition of malnutrition in the body of Christ.”
Some in the body of Christ began to label Murillo as “divisive,” while others wondered why he didn’t address this with Kerr and Bullock in private, as the Bible instructs in Matthew 18:5-17, “Now if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, then take with you one or two others, that by the testimony of two or three witnesses every word may be established. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.“
In calling out these individuals, Murillo says he “Obeyed the Holy Spirit and read the Word of God,” and told the truth, which he says was “an act of faith.”
“It is not so much courage as it is faith,” Murillo says. “Because you have to believe that if you tell the truth, no matter what, it’s going to create the ultimate and best outcome. … Winston Churchill said ‘panic will reject it. And those who are in the deception will rail against it.’
“The fact is, there were things that were going on, on some of the shows that I was associated with. I went personally to the individuals that were responsible for my concern about the prophets. And I’m going to name names, Kat Kerr and Robin Bullock. They were identified with this gentleman in his church, and he was a regular guest alongside me. I went to him privately on four occasions and implored him to disassociate himself with false prophets. And not only him, but also other people in the show (Flashpoint). … So, after a while, it became clear that the Spirit of God was grieved by this program. It was pulling people in under a political guise. …
Murillo pointed out that one of his co-hosts of Flashpoint, Lance Wallnau, “is a great man of God who studies the Word and understands.”
Murillo told Matarazzo that many “so-called” prophets “cross the line into something extremely dangerous—distraction.”
“What we’ve developed, and there are other prophets that I could name that are also dangerously to be avoided, that are giving daily prophetic words to people every single day. Now, why is that dangerous? Because I have a rule that I live by. I don’t ask God to speak to me directly until after I’ve studied His Word.
“Because if I want messages from God, and I’m avoiding the Bible as the standard, I’m liable to hear anything. Sometimes when a person says, ‘well, we need to trust the Spirit more than the Bible.’ There are individuals that have said that. That’s the crowbar for this spiritism to enter the church. But here’s the problem. I’m not really trusting the Holy Spirit at that point. I’m taking the Word of that prophet, that that’s what the Spirit said. Now, if I go to the owner’s manual, I’m going to see the patented absurdity of that statement. Because Jesus said, ‘The Spirit of God would take what I have said, and reveal it to you.’ He won’t contradict the Word of God. So that is essential truth.
“One person commented on my blog, ‘well, you’ve blasted these prophets. So please tell us who are the true prophets.’
“And I said to them, ‘listen to yourself. When did your Christian faith become dependent on meeting a prophet? Who created this new and improved dependency of the church on a prophetic word?’ Other generations never had this. My generation never had it. We had the Jesus movement, without daily prophetic words. I wonder how we made it. The fact is, we are now in an in a setting where the issue becomes, are we going to face the uncomfortable thing? Why are some people, so many people, angry with me? Well, because you received a prophetic word. And I’m gonna give you an example of one that’s very dangerous.
Murillo continued, “One of the people infers that you can get a second chance after you die to be saved. No. And what it does is someone that has a loved one that is passed on, this lady has said this to them, ‘well, I prayed, and when I visited heaven, I
And Murillo says that it is because of “biblical illiteracy” that many “so-called prophets” have become an affront to the church.
“Now it’s turned into this insane psychodrama that is embarrassing to talk about,” he says. {eoa}
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Shawn A. Akers is the online editor at Charisma Media.
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